And then Henning stepped into the role and I haven't liked Stephanie since. I still don't buy her as Steve and Kayla's daughter, and at least now, we don't actually have to see Steve and Kayla anymore, so it's not as obvious that she's toally miscast for their offspring.

Well, Stephanie is not really Steve/Kayla´s daughter. Steve had zero effect on her as a parent and I doubt Kayla herself had some adventury life while Steve was gone. It´s not like Steph was ever an active participant in anything wild they used to do together, so expect her to be anything like Steve is a little unbeliavable. I think she and Kayla led the most boring ordinary life imaginable after she left Salem.

it's not the kind of life she grew up with that would have had the most impact, it was the life she heard stories about from not only her mother, but probably everyone in the family and the parts especially to do with her father. In fact, him NOT being there made it more likely for her to turn out that way cause if he'd been around, he would have done everything possible to keep her from being adventurous. I suppose it could have worked the other way around too lol...if Steve had been in her life growing up and he'd tried to keep her under his thumb, that could have created a need to prove herself or rebellion. Either way, growing up with a boring, ordinary life doesn't necessarily lead to the same, and besides, LA isn't boring.